By Bugra Uzar/ info@eurohoops.net
The rivarly between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce continues to affect the Turkish national team. Yesterday, Fenerbahce‘s president Aziz Yildirim asked from coach Ergin Ataman to resign and now Galatasaray supports the national team coach.
Galatasaray issued a statement for the matter, insisting that Ataman doesn’t neet to resign either from Galatasaray’s bench or the national team. “We are supporting our coach and we are not calling him back due to our responsibility towards our country”.
This reaction came after federation president Harun Erdenay talked to the “Basketdergisi” portal and said: “I agree with Aziz Yıldırım in some parts. But that system needs to be arranged in this way. National teams are playing their games during the summer so coaches can’t work for 10 months. We agreed with Ergin Ataman to collaborate in that arrangement. However the time of Aziz Yildirim’s statement is wrong. We want to go to the Olympics and that’s our goal. He shouldn’t say things like that before the tournement”.
The full statement of Galatasaray is the following: “We don’t agree with Harun Erdenay’s statement. Due to our national pride and due to our responsibility towards our contry’s people, we are not calling back our coach. The president of the federation must defend our coach and regardless of their teams, he must also defend his players until the last possesion”.